is short and his patience long. In June tgo1 the terms of peace were scttled; on the 7th September the Peace Protocol was solemnly signed by the representatives of all the Powers, that ‘‘monument of collective ineffi- ciency” which was to sow the seeds of trouble to Jast for many years to come. At Hsi-an “in the profound seclu- sion of the palace” she knew remorse, not unstimulated by fear; on the return journey to her capital (from 2oth October 1901 to 6th January 1902), while preparing her arts and graces to captivate the barbarian, she was still a victim to doubt and apprehension. Meanwhile, at Peking, the mandarin world, reassured by the attitude of the peace negotiators and their terms, was fast shedding its garments of fear and peacocking as of yore, in renewed assurance of its own indisputable superiority. Evidence of this spirit was to be met with on all sides, gradually coming to its fine flower in the subsequent negotiations for the revision of the commercial Treaties, and bringing home once more, to those who study these things, the unalterable truth of the discovery made years ago hy one of the earliest British representatives in China, namely, that ‘this people yields nothing to reason and everything to fear.”
One of the most remarkable instances of this revival of the mandarin’s traditional arrogance of superiority occurred, significantly enough, in connection with the penitential mission of the Emperor’s brother, Prince Ch’un (now Regent), to Berlin, an episode which threatened for a moment to jead to a rupture between Germany and China. By Article 1 of the Peace Protocol, Prince Ch’un had been specially designated for this mission to convey in person to the German [Emperor the regrets of the Chinese Government for the murder of Baron von Ketteler. He left Peking for the purpose on the 12th July igot, with definite instructions as to the manner in which the Chinese Government’s regrets were to be expressed. The German Emperor’s proposals as to ibe form of ceremony to be followed in this matter were regarded by Prince Ch’un as incompatible with his instructions, and it will be remem- bered that, after some hesitation on the part of the German
